IT'S FINALLY HERE!I am SO excited to announce that 'Magic Wept' by Andi Van is ready for my eyes to feast! This is book 2 in the 'Mages' Guild Trilogy' and I have been waiting SO LONG. No more waiting, let's let Andi get into it! Let's start with a synopsis.

Synopsis

Jorget has no surname, no blood kin, and no hope of using his magical ability while he remains at Archai Castle, where the mad king reigns. With magic still outlawed, every experiment he performs could cost him his life. So when his mentor, the royal priest Denekk, is ordered to send Jorget on a journey to find a magical weapon, the young man jumps at the chance to prove himself. What he doesn’t realize is that things are never as simple as they seem.Kelwin Tiovolk has settled into life in the Mages’ Guild of the Dragon’s Claw with his beloved, guild leader Tasis Kadara. But when word arrives that the king is searching for something to destroy the guild, he knows he has to leave behind the comfort of his new home to save what Tasis worked so hard to rebuild.With enemies around every corner, Jorget and Kelwin need to pull off a miracle in order to save the guild. Luckily, they’re more than ready to stand strong together and keep what’s precious to them safe.

Someone get me a fainting couch, honestly. I'm so ready for this book! If anyone wants to do a read-along on release day, yeah. let's do it! Back to Andi, it's time for the Master behind the mind.

A little bit about Andi Van

Andi Van is a foul-mouthed troublemaker who lives near San Diego with a baseball bat that’s forever being used for things other than baseball, and a fondness for rum and caffeine (though not necessarily together).Andi is fluent in three languages (English, sarcasm, and profanity), and takes pride in a highly developed—if somewhat bizarre—sense of humor.

Okay okay, stop teasing me. Tell me more about Magic Wept! I want details, how did these characters come to be, where did the idea for the story come from. Most importantly... GIVE ME SOMETHING TO READ!

A History of Magic

Once upon a time (the early 1990s), before the dawn of the internet as we know it, there was a BBS (that's "Bulletin Board System", and we had to use actual phone lines to dial into them via modem) in which I ran a role-playing group set in a mages' guild. My character's name was Trivintaie, and she was a redheaded mage with a penchant for mischief.

Yes, she was THAT Triv. The same Triv that starts off the whole Mages' Guild Trilogy.

When I decided to revive her and write the trilogy, I knew I couldn't make her the main character. Her time had passed, and too many other people had taken part in creating her guild for it to really be mine. So I set the trilogy a thousand years in the future and gave her world a new hero.

What I didn't expect was that I'd pack it with such a diverse set of characters, most of which reflecting some part of the rainbow. It was completely unintentional, but once I realized it was happening, I was thrilled. One of my goals was to give young adults—and adults not quite so young—characters that maybe they could identify with in a way they might not have been able to before.

So I'd like to introduce you all to some of the new characters in the second book of the trilogy, Magic Wept.

But before that, I wanted to let you all know that there is indeed a giveaway. I will be randomly generating three winners on September 30th, all of whom will receive a plush purple cat (because nothing says magic like a K'yerin plushie—Tasis' familiar is just full of himself enough to agree with that sentiment) and an ebook copy of Magic Wept. You can enter the giveaway HERE!

And now, on to the characters!

Gisik isn’t seen much in Magic Wept, but he’s definitely talked about. While we already have an antagonist in the form of the mad king of Archai, Gisik, if we want to put it in gamer terms, is the boss. He’s the big bad guy. And while he doesn’t represent a portion of the rainbow like so many of the other characters, he does represent evil in the ultimate good-versus-evil scenario.

Gisik is a dragon. The other dragons seem to want to do good things and be good to people. Gisik…well, not so much for him.

This doesn’t make him less important than the good guys. He is in fact just as important, if only because his twisted personality gives the rest of their world a scale in which to measure against. There’s long been a question on whether we would know what ‘good’ actually was if we didn’t have ‘evil’ to show us the opposite side of the coin.

​“Your uncle, then,” Emlynn mused with a nod. “And he is—was—the black dragon?”“Yes,” the dragon said. They shoved the last of the apple slice they’d been holding into their mouth and began to lick at their fingers. “He was not kind. Mean. Greedy. He was angry our mother did not want him. He started a war to try to force her to his side.” Yldost sighed and shook their head. “He tried that before. His tricks were never the same but the results always were. He destroys. He is… chaos.”“What do you mean?” Kelwin asked, reaching out with his fork to spear a slice of apple, though instead of eating it he offered it to Yldost. The dragon trilled and pulled it free of the tines, munching happily. Jorget was pretty sure he’d never seen such an adorable thing in his entire life.Yldost chewed, but from the way the ridges above their eyes drew together, they were probably thinking. “Vashk is the sea,” they finally said. “I am the sky. Gisik is chaos.”“Wait, I think I get it,” Jorget said suddenly, unable to keep the excitement from his voice. “It’s kind of like the dragons are elementals. Vashk is the sea, specifically the Western Sea. I’m assuming you’re the Western Sky.”“The fault in your logic is that chaos does not have a location,” Emlynn pointed out softly. “It is intangible.”“Our siblings are like Vashk and I,” Yldost interjected. “Specific things. It is different for our elders. Our father is the void. Our mother is… life?” They thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, life. The elders… they are things that must be for magic to exist. Even chaos is necessary, but Gisik had grown warped.”“And what happens if he’s dead?” Tasis asked, moving to rest his chin in his hands as he watched the dragon step into the pie itself to find another large slice of apple. “Also, you should be eating all of the pie, not just the apples in the filling.”“The apples are the best part,” Yldost informed him. “And if Gisik did die, he will be reborn. Perhaps in the same form. Perhaps in another. That is how it works. The elders do not stay dead. They only change.”“That sounds familiar,” Kelwin murmured, and Jorget nodded in agreement. That sounded like what Vashk did to the guild members who’d been killed.

Okay, so other than dancing in my seat, I'M READY TO READ! Who's with me?! Alright, reality time here. Go support this brilliant author with a fantastic series. I can't wait to see you back here and chat it over. Let's discuss in the comments below and on all other social media. Happy reading!-E

I told you I had something good... well here it is! It's release day for "Krampus Hates Christmas" by Andi Van and they are here to talk holidays, Krampus, and heXmas with us! Grab something warm to drink, pick up a copy of "Krampus Hates Christmas", and be prepared to be captivated by Andi's characters. Happy Holidays and happy reading!

Krampus Hates ChristmasBy: Andi Van

​Krampus has been released to the world. I am half excited, half terrified. I love this story a lot. Want to know my secret behind the plot, though?

I hate Christmas.Yes, seriously.

People who know me, or have read my posts on Facebook or Twitter during this time of the year are aware of that. I've been told it's kind of funny that someone who hates Christmas seems to write a lot of holiday-based stories. My answer is always that if they read the story, they'll see that I've left the worst of the commercialism out. It's always about family and spending time with your loved ones. That's the holiday I grew up with, not this chaos of people declaring that there's a war on Christmas because Starbucks uses a red cup and where I feel like I'm going to be shanked every time I tell someone "happy holidays" instead of "merry Christmas".

So when the call for submission for this year's Dreamspinner Press Advent Calendar came out, it was perfect. The theme was "Bah Humbug", which suited me perfectly. And I even had an idea of where I'd start.

A few years back, my brother had been telling me about Krampus. This is before the really bad horror movie came out, so I hadn't really heard of him. But a demonic creature who kidnapped the naughty children? I was all over that idea, and we made him the mascot for heXmas (which is what we celebrate instead of Christmas - imagine a real-world version of Jack Skellington's Christmas). At the time, I'd considered a story about an 18-year-old being naughty just so Krampus would take him away. I never really liked the concept, so it got shoved in the corner with the rest of the unused plot bunnies.

But what if Krampus was actually this really nice guy? What if he was just irritated because Santa Claus shouldn't be having to deal with both the nice and the naughty kids?

What if he just hates all the commercial BS and the greed involved with the modern holiday experience?What if, deep down, he actually loves the holiday itself?

So what I ended up with was a beast-like man who has to regain his holiday spirit in order to help make Santa's life easier. He has no idea how he's going to manage it, but luckily for him love shows the way.

And maybe, just maybe, Krampus will learn to love Christmas.

Whatever you may or may not celebrate this time of year, I wish you all a joyous December and a prosperous New Year. May this season surprise you with new, wonderful stories.

Synopsis:​Karl Kringle hates the modern-day Christmas. He was born to be Krampus, but the Holiday Council refuses to let him help his brother Nick—aka Santa Claus—with the Naughty List until he finds his holiday spirit. To meet that challenge, he’s turned human and dumped in a strange apartment.

Lewis Weatherby loves the holidays and always has. Not only do his parents own a pumpkin patch and tree farm, he’s also inherited a Christmas-themed shop. All he wants from Santa is the man of his dreams, and the Big Guy might’ve just delivered. Lewis’s new neighbor Karl is gorgeous, sweet, and has a fantastic sense of humor—if his jokes about being Krampus are any indication.

Soon getting home is less important to Karl than what will happen when Lewis inevitably realizes the truth behind his jokes. He’s finally starting to understand the real joy of the season—now he just has to figure out how to hold on to it.